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<br /> . . . -, <br /> <br /> Society's new Home Builders Program for low income housing, and distributed Legal Aid <br /> Society brochures. <br /> Ginny Hughes, 18 Admiralty, spoke on behalf of Eddie Mae Spiller and the Emergency <br /> - Hunger Fund. Mrs. Hughes described the remarkable work Mrs. Spiller has accomplished <br /> and the thousands and thousands of people she has helped over the decades. Mrs. Hughes <br /> offered to assist Mrs. Spiller with the application process and the budget, and said it wasn't <br /> fair to deny the application as many local agencies referred people in desperate straits to <br /> the Emergency Hunger Fund. Mrs. Hughes said, as a 35 year Redwood City resident, she <br /> didn't always agree with how her tax dollars were spent, but in this case she fully <br /> supported the expenditure of City monies to fund the Emergency Hunger Fund. <br /> John Cotton, 980 EdgecliffWay, Redwood City, Member of the Board of the Emergency <br /> Hunger Fund, appealed to the Council for funds from the HSF A program. Mr. Cotton <br /> referred to the letter submitted to the Council regarding this issue and said the Emergency <br /> Hunger Fund was a purely service oriented organization, with no parent organization, no <br /> overhead, and no paid staff. He described the City's funding over the past twenty years <br /> and the application process. He agreed that standardized applications and regulations were <br /> important and they would try to meet those requirements in the future. He asked that the <br /> Council be flexible on this matter and continue to fund them as they find someone to assist <br /> them in preparing a more competitive application for next year. <br /> Paula Uccelli, No.1 Uccelli Blvd., Member of the Board of the Emergency Hunger Fund, <br /> also spoke on behalf of Eddie Mae Spiller, stating that the Fund serves over 6,000 people <br /> , per year, with food, counseling, reuniting runaways with their families, and finding people <br /> jobs. The San Mateo County Sheriff Department and Redwood City Police Department <br /> refer people to the Emergency Hunger Fund, as well as church officials who give money <br /> directly to Mrs. Spiller to make sure it will be spent on food and services. Mrs. Uccelli <br /> said accounting practices of the Emergency Hunger Fund have not been up to the <br /> standards of other agencies with paid staff, but asked that Council reconsider the HHCC <br /> recommendation based on Mrs. Spiller's past accomplishments and importance in the <br /> community. <br /> Dr. Roger Willey, 839 Arlington Road, said he agreed with the previous speakers and also <br /> supported the Emergency Hunger Fund. Dr. Willey spoke on behalf of Target Education <br /> Welfare Council Incorporated (TEWCI), and advised that the HHCC had recommended a <br /> contribution of $25,000, $5,000 less than TEWCI received last year based on the lack of <br /> fund raising activities. Dr. Willey described how difficult it was to get grants for senior <br /> services. He advised that TEWCI had not yet found a replacement for the United Way <br /> funding that ceased several years ago. He said TEWCI has had to spend its reserves for <br /> day to day operations, and will soon not be able to operate at all. Dr. Willey said the <br /> consequences of loss of funding will be, "the lack of services to the community of poor <br /> and largely Hispanic, uneducated, many of them seniors in that particular part of town who <br /> will not have those services any longer." Dr. Willey said, "TEWCI sold their building in <br /> 1989 and in cooperation with Redwood City built a new Senior Citizen building. It's a <br /> '-- splendid building, well adapted to its purpose, and TEWCI put up the money for most of <br /> REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 55 MAY 19, 1997 <br /> MINUTES Page No. 337 PAGE 9 <br />